"The decision of the court came to us the day after the feast of St. Joseph, our patron and carpenter, so I think he may have had a hand in that," said Abbot Justin Brown.

The Fifth Circuit court allowed the monks Wednesday afternoon to continue making caskets.

"We can sell our caskets in Louisiana and we have been because we have been legal now for almost two years," said Brown.

The state funeral board had challenged the monks' right to build and sell caskets, citing a Louisiana law that says only licensed funeral homes and directors could sell caskets inside the state.

The court said funeral directors did not offer rational basis for their challenged rule.

"We do our work with love and car, and that is part of my job as a monk, to work and to pray. This work is very important to me," said casket maker, Brother Elias Eichorn.

The monks' court battle has attracted national attention, bringing the abbey a lot of work and many caskets to build.

"We knew where that coffin came from. It was made with love and appreciation for the deceased that's going into it," said customer Mike Marcel.

"That's special to people. It is something different. It's not just something they buy offline from somebody they don't know, from a place that they don't know. They know what it came from and who made it," said Eichorn.

"Our cause was right and just, and that really prompted us not only to fight for our own rights, economic rights, but hopefully for others as well," said Brown.

Gen. David Petraeus pleaded guilty to federal charges Tuesday to end a probe into whether he provided classified information to his mistress when he was CIA director, according to a U.S. official briefed on the matter.